Aeroplane.



E. L. RUSSELL.

AERQPLANE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT27\ 1916.

Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

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` APPLICATION FILED SEPT-27, 19IG. mig-,572., Patented Aug. 28, 1911?:

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AEROPLANE.

AffPucATloN FILED sEPT.21. Isle.

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MEOPLME.

assente.,

Specification o Letters Patent.

Patented lling.. 2d, ldt|n ltippllcatlon nled September a?, 1916. Serial Ito. 122,473.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, ELMER L. RUSSELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Great Falls, in the county of Cascade and State'of Montana,have invenped a certain new and useful Improvement in Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification. y

My present invention relates generally to aeroplanes, andl more particularly to an aeroplane of the type to be hereinafter described, the object and advantages of which will be clearly outlined inthe following description thereof.

To this end referenceis made to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, and wherein-i Figure l is a plan view illustrating my improvements.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section throu h one side extension of the upper plane, ta en on line 2 2 of Fig. l. y

llig. d ,is a side elevation.

Fig.. t is a detail perspective view of the upper planes, illustrating `in more or less diagrammatic manner the controlling connections for the ailerons carried thereby.

lig., 5 is a front elevation, and

Fig. t is a detail view more or less diagrammatie illustrating the vertical tail plane and the control therefor. n

Referring 'now to these gures, 1t iszpreferable for certain reasons presently to be `referred to that the aeroplane be of the trin lill plane type, the planes l0, ll, and l2 being constructed in superposed relation within a frame including vertical struts 13 of which those at the sides of the plane are entended above the upper planes l2 as best .eeen in lligs. 3, t, and 5, and as indicated at la in these dgures. Y

Vllbe upper plane l2 is also provided with latered extensions l5 which combined ap'n proximate in area the area of one of the inain planes, it being noted that these evu tensions l5 are inclined outwardly and upwardly and that this `inclination is their normal position, guy wires 16 and l? rigidly holding the saine in position. rlFhe guy wires lo lead to the lower side ortions of the main while the guy wires 17 lead npwardly to the extensions ld of the side strate of the main frame, as before delllhe fneelage l@ is centrally located ben tween the lower plane l0 and the interin-c -a diate plane 11 and carries a motor bed 19 and motor 20 at its forward end Aforwardly of themain planes and below the center of gravity ofthe machine as thus far described, the rearwardly extending motor shaft 2l being connected by sprocket wheels and a sprocket chain 22,- the latter. of which eatends through tubular casings 24, to the upper propeller shaft 25 mounted between the intermediate plane l1 and the upper plane 12, and having a propeller 26 secured upon its forward end forwardly of the several main planes.

llt will be noted by reference to Figs. 3 and 5 in .particular that the main frame and the fuselage 18 conjointly support the forward landing wheels 27 and that the rear end of the fuselage 18, as particularly seen 1n Fig; 3, is provided with landing skids 2d.

The rear end of the fuselage l@ is also provided with a vertical rudder 29 andwith orizontal rudders or elevators 30 upon opposite sides of the vertical rudder 29. The controlling cables of the horizontal rudders or elevators 30 are shown at 3l and the controlling cables of the vertical rudder 29 are shown at 32, being particularly seen in Fig.

6. The particular controls for actuating these tail rudders in operation are rela tively unimportant, various well lnown means being utilized for this purpose, such as, for instance, a steering wheel 33, as seen in several of the tigures, particularly Fig. 6, and disposed at the operators station, in the forward portion of the fuselage lt, rearwardly of the motor bed i9, the operatorle seat being seen at 3d in Fig. 3.

Illhus, due to the upward inclination of the lateral extensions of the upper france,

`themachine when thrown out of bala-nce in use, makes a side slip and rights itself automatics-ily, making it practically impossible for it to tip over sidevvise.. ln order to bold the machine straight in landing, however, preferably provide the rear edges of tensions l5 of the upper plane lil, wiJ ar vvardly projecting hinged ailerons le and Bdconnected across the of the plane'lt and its said extensions by a connecting cable 37 extending around pulleys El@ as seen in litigi, so as to constrain the two ailerons to movements in rei'atively opposite di c@ tions, the control for the movements of ailerons being in the forni of an interrned ately pirated foot bar d@ freni which cahl e dll and respectively lea-:l to the nader of the ailerons 35 and 36, Lhe foot bar being arranged in front of the operators seat as shown in Fig. 3.

It is to be observed, furthermore, that the motor being inthe position described, carried between the lower and intermediate planes, and `being thus below the center of pressure, makes it impossible for the machine to dive straight to the ground or fall backward, and for the ur ose of this feature it isj of course, pre era le that 'the machine be of the triplane type as first above noted, that is, that the machine include at least three planes in superposed relation. For the purpose of the automatically balancing inclined extensions of the upper plane, however, the machine may be of the iplane type, attention being called again to the fact that the ailerons are not necessary to balance the machine when in Hight,

aeeaere but are used more particularly for landing purposes.

I claim An aeroplane having superposed planes of whichthe upper plane is provided with rigid upwardly inclined extensions projecting beyond the ends of the lower planes, ailerons hinged to the rear edges of the said upwardly inclined extensions, a cable connecting the upper surfaces of the said ailerons and extending across the top of tbe upper plane, an intermediately pivoted footc control bar, and cables extending from tile opposite ends of said control bar to the lower surfaces of the said ailerons for the purpose described.

ELMER L. RUSSELL.

Witnesses:

Gm. H. Missen, Gumia Bms'roN. 

